OUR Ukraine not going to agree to a ceasefire if Russians from all the lands they currently own, including the peninsula Crimea which was annexed by the Russian Federation in 2014. This was stated yesterday by high-ranking Ukrainian officials, insisting on the speedy entry of their country into the Atlantic Alliance and not embarrassed to say that they want the Black Sea to turn into a “lake of NATO”.

Speaking via video link at a security conference in St. Black Sea, held in Bucharest, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called the war in his country “a bleeding wound in the heart of Europe” and continued: “We are bound by the UN Charter and firmly convinced that Crimea is Ukrainian and that it will return to Ukrainian control. Whenever you hear someone from anywhere in the world say that Crimea is a special case and should not be returned to Ukraine, like the rest of our territory, know: Ukraine strongly disagrees with these positions.

As part of the long-planned Ukrainian counter-offensive, which is expected to begin soon, Crimea will be included in Kyiv’s military objectives, according to international press reports.

The head of Ukrainian diplomacy then described Kyiv’s vision of the future of the region as follows: “The Black Sea is of key importance for ensuring peace throughout Europe. Unfortunately, today this is a typical example of how things can get worse if existing threats are persistently ignored. It is time for the Black Sea to become something like the Baltic, a NATO lake.”

This position of Kulebas caused an immediate reaction from the Moscow side. “The Black Sea can never become a NATO sea,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding: “This is a common sea, it should become a sea of ​​cooperation, interaction and security for all coastal states in the region.” At the same conference, Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov intervened, reiterating a request to expedite its accession to the Atlantic Alliance. Referring to the terms of the peace, he stressed: “We need a system of guarantees that will make it impossible for Russia to attack again. There is no alternative to Ukraine’s accession to NATO.”

At the same time, his government Vladimir Zelensky yesterday tried to dispel doubts raised by US media reports that Kyiv is considering postponing the spring counteroffensive after the leak of secret Pentagon documents on the course of the war. Ukrainian officials have made reassuring statements, implying that confidential information about Kyiv’s military plans was not given to the Americans precisely because of the fear of leaks.

The statements were made by Joe Biden in his first public statement on the leaks. Speaking from Dublin, Ireland, the President of the United States said that despite his concerns about the leakage of classified documents, he believes that “none of this, as far as I know, threatens with serious consequences.”

The importance of the events in Ukraine was emphasized yesterday by the Prime Minister of Poland. Speaking at an event at the American think tank Atlantic Council in Washington, Mateusz Morawiecki emphasized: “If, God forbid, Ukraine falls, if Ukraine is conquered, China could attack Taiwan the next day. There is a big connection between Ukraine and the situation in Taiwan.”